wine or whine (?) time...

I feel like I hardly got any sleep the other night, dreaming about my next tank top. In the dream I was starting and changing my mind, restarting, rethinking, redesigning and oh my gosh, I felt like it was the most important job in the world and there could be no errors. This is not like me but something must have been bothering me when I went to bed. Still haven’t figured it out but I did my next shell. Sister Janet, even if she’s not exactly in the youngster category, was next on my list. Checking in on her in Toronto the other day by phone, I casually asked what colour she might like in case I got around to it. She shocked the heck out of me, asking for bright yellow or gold. She’s more of the jewel tones but I have gold Panama that should  work up nicely.
My plan was to change up the hems a bit – after all I do have a few in my back pocket to choose from! :) Going with the Scalloped Lace with auto picot hem on page 99, the Handbook for Manual Machine Knitters https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2016/09/omg-its-ready.html
and the Leaf pattern from page 57, same book.
Got the hem done although this yarn is not the best-case scenario for hand transfers. Panama is a blend of cotton and acrylic and it has a tendency to split and snag on the hooks as you’re lifting multiple groups up. For this one, I’m using the adjustable 7-prong tool, moving five stitches at a time and then four on the next one. Turns out not exactly a lot of fun or relaxing! I’ll admit, some bad words were repeated multiple times.
I’m not sure I’ve told you this before, but I have a short memory for bad things. Always considered this a plus. By the time I knit 100 rows of stockinette, I’d forgotten the grief and continued into the ‘leaf’ pattern in an increasing diamond motif. Felt so confident in planning it out. The book says it’s a 16-row repeat but I added the offset next ones at 14 rows so I counted back from the neckline (RC176), six times to start it on row 106 so it would be wide enough for the width of the neckline. The leaf uses outlined transfers, not the simplest thing to do, even when all things are aligned with the knitting gods!
I also forgot that because of the acrylic I wouldn’t be able to press this out with my usual abandon. Careful steaming only! Thankfully, there's good stitch definition!
This could be called the Four-Letter Word Tank!